Astraphobia
by HURRICANE'Hannah
Summary: "What do you fear the most, Hide?" Only when their lips were mere inches apart and each other's hot breath was felt by the other, did Ironhide answer in a whisper. "Losing you,"


**Pairing(s): **AnnabellexIronhide and slight cannon WilliamxSarah Lennox.  
><strong>Character(s): <strong>Main: Annabelle Lennox and Ironhide. Others: William Lennox. Mentions: Sarah Lennox, Bumblebee and other Autobots (Ratchet and Optimus Prime).  
><strong>Setting: <strong>Post 2007 Movie. (little over 14 years – acting as ROTF never happened)  
><strong>Warning(s): <strong>Romantic content between a Cybertronion and a human of heterosexual nature (depending on how you see Transformers "genders") and holoform usage within this one-shot. If any of the mentioned bothers you, then please do not read.  
><strong>Words: <strong>1, 986. (Not including Author notes)  
><strong>Disclaimer: <strong>Transformers and all related characters belong to Hasbro.  
><strong>Inspiration:<strong> The title and plot were inspired by my creation of the **Phobia Theme Challenge**. Other names for the fear/anxiety of thunder/lightning are; Astrapophobia, Brontophobia and Keraunophobia.  
><strong>Edit: <strong>_April 30, 2011_. I have decided to start writing fanfiction again and I am going to be re-adding some of my old one-shots back onto this site. This one-shot has undergone some minor spelling/grammar edits, and some deletion and adding of sections.

* * *

><p>"Hey Hide, do you think you could look after Anna for a bit?"<p>

The Autobot weapon specialist turned from the target he had been shooting to his most trusted human ally.

"Why would ya require assistance in supervising Annabelle?" Ironhide asked as he retracted his two cannons, his full attention focused on the army Major. He knew that with Annabelle Lennox being fifteen years of age, that she no longer required someone to keep a constant eye on her. However, the trigger-happy mech couldn't help but become curious as to the reason soldier would make such a request.

"Well you see Sarah and I are going out to eat, just the two of us. We just wanted someone to keep an eye on her." Will explained to his best friend as he tried to keep the real reason from surfacing.

Ironhide nodded his helm. It was true that both Will and Sarah didn't have very much time together but that still didn't account for why a fifteen-year-old needed a sparkling sitter. Ironhide had been the Lennox's guardian for fourteen years and with the time spent with Will Lennox; Ironhide could easily read the soldier. At the moment, Ironhide could tell from Will's eyes that he was hiding something, most likely the true reason why the Major would want their teenage daughter under surveillance. However, Ironhide also trusted Will and figured he would learn the real reason soon enough.

"Very well, ah will watch over Annabelle until your return," Ironhide agreed.

William let a grateful smile fall onto his lips before he walked over to Ironhide and gave his leg an affectionate pat.

"Thanks, Hide." Will thanked as he continued to pat the old warrior's leg.

Ironhide nodded his helm before stating, "Mah pleasure."

William smile before walking to Bumblebee who had volunteered to take the Lennoxs into town. He went over to the driver's side and got in next to Sarah. With that they were off into town.

Ironhide let some air out through his vents before transforming into his GMC Topkick alt mode. He then quickly left his make-shift shooting range that Sarah and Will had let him make on an unused section of their property away from their residence and began to head for the house.

Once he made it to the Lennox's residence, he parked himself in the barn. He then activated his holomatter generator and his forty-year-old holoform materialized in front of his vehicle mode. He then walked from the barn to the front door. Like he usually did, he just opened the front door and walked in before closing it.

Once the door shut, he heard movement from the upstairs. The sound of feet shuffling quickly grew closer until his unnatural royal blue eyes saw the youngest member of the Lennox family standing at the top of the stairs.

Ironhide let his gaze wander over the young beauty that he had the honor of protecting since she was an infant. She was wearing a black tank top and a pair of low cut jeans that hugged every beautiful curve she had. He didn't know what had made him fall in love with her all he knew was that the thought of ever losing her, made his spark shatter.

"Hide," The beautiful teenage girl said in surprise as her sea blue eyes twinkled and a smile broke out on her face.

Annabelle was overjoyed when she saw her guardian standing there at the bottom of the stairs. She let her gaze linger on him as she noticed that this time Ironhide had chosen a pair of camouflage army pants and a black muscle shirt. His deep tan and assorted tattoos were still on and visible. Her favourite had been a tattoo of her name on his left arm. She tried to figure what the exact time she had fallen in love with her protector and figured out she really couldn't.

She then quickly ran down the stairs before wrapping her arms around his large and muscular frame. Ironhide let a small smile grace his lips as he wrapped his deep tanned arms around her skinny body.

"What are you doing here?" Annabelle asked as she looked up into Ironhide's battle harden eyes. "I figured you'd still be out at the shooting range." She stated as the two of them ceased their embrace.

"Your Father has requested that while they are out; ah keep an optic on ya." Ironhide replied.

"Ahh, I see." Annabelle said as she brushed some of her curly, dirty blonde hair away from her eyes. "Well, I'm just finishing cleaning my room. I shouldn't be long." Annabelle informed.

Ironhide nodded his head before the young teen raced up the stairs and out of sight. He then proceeded to the family room to watch some television; neither he nor Annabelle noticed the distant rumble.

xxx

It had just been over thirty minutes since Ironhide had relaxed on one of the family room's couches and flipped on the television set to the History Channel, when suddenly the power went out.

Ironhide had indeed begun to notice the storm's approach but did not think much of it. To his understanding, it was a common geological occurrence and didn't believe it was something to worry about.

That was until the next clasp of thunder made the windows of the house rattle slightly. Ironhide then stood up and with his heighten Autobot senses; he made his way up the stairs to Annabelle's bed room which was the third on the left.

The door was open, so Ironhide made his way into her room and aided by the constant blinding flashes of lightning, looked around the room. When he couldn't spot Annabelle anywhere, he was about to leave and search another room but something quickly stopped him dead in his tracks.

He could hear a soft sniffling sound that he pin-pointed it coming from the far wall of the room. Ironhide quickly realized that the sound was coming from inside her closet. He slowly made his way over towards the closet. He gripped the silver knob in his one hand before turning it and slowly opened the door. What waited for him inside nearly broke his spark in two.

Annabelle was huddled into the far right corner, her body trembling so hard that the light from the small flashlight she held was shaking all over the small space. He could see her fear filled and watery eyes and the streaks that were evident of her tears. He slowly crouched down, his soft eyes never leaving the broken and terrified girl in front of him.

"Anna?" Ironhide whispered, trying not to scare the teen even more.

Annabelle's eyes snapped from the flashlight that she rested against her chest to the face of the Autobot she trusted with her very life. "H-Hide?" She squeaked as a few more tears fell down her cheeks.

Ironhide could clearly see the fear in her eyes and he swore he felt his spark shattering. "Yes, ah'm here." Hide softly replied as he slowly reached his hand out towards her. He expected it to be a long while before the teen would be calm enough to come out of the closet.

So what happened next was extremely unexpected for Ironhide. A loud thunder clasp rang throughout the black sky and rattled the window as well as shook the house. Annabelle let out a small scream and dropped the flashlight before she jumped into Ironhide. Her arms found themselves wrapped around his middle as she squeezed him. Her eyes were shut so tight that the tears she had collected in her tear ducts, spilled over her face like a ragging waterfall.

Ironhide became still as his arms hung in mid air. His arms seemed to come to a complete stop, like his body was frozen inside and out. The only thing that seemed to work was his pulsing spark, which had actually sped up at the contact with Annabelle.

After a few moments, his face relaxed and he slowly wrapped his arms gently but securely around her body. He closed his eyes and rested his chin onto of her head. When another thunderclap rang throughout the sky like a gun shot, Ironhide heard her whimper and she tighten her grip on him. With that his eyes shot open as his brain began to work again.

"Anna, do ya have Astraphobia?" Ironhide quietly asked.

Annabelle lifted her head from his chest. She gave her guardian a puzzled look. _What the _hell _is Astraphobia?_ The young teen questioned inside her head.

Ironhide quickly noticed the confused look within his charger's terrified eyes. "A fear o' thunder and/or lightning," He simplified.

He watched as Annabelle shook her head yes before lowering her head down in shame. It then hit Ironhide the real reason why William had him keep and optic on Annabelle. He obviously knew about his daughter's fear and that he probably knew about a storm hitting. Will had wanted to make sure that someone was there to comfort Annabelle.

However, something wasn't making sense to the older Autobot. He had been the guardian of this girl since she was younger than one, how had he not noticed this fear before?

Within the fraction of a second it took a human to blink, he had scanned his memory chip of the last fourteen years and noted that he had been with her during numerous occasions of this geological occurrence. However, even when she was younger, the loud noises never seemed to unsettled the brave girl, what had changed?

"The attack three weeks ago,"

Ironhide's head snapped down to look at the teen. Her head was still hung in shame but her voice and body were gradually becoming steadier within the presence of her embrace.

"The sound of Starscream's missiles,"

Now it was starting to make sense to the battle-harden warrior. When he and Annabelle had been out patrolling, Starscream had barreled from the sky and attacked without warning. Thanks to the seeker's rusting aim, Ironhide had avoided a direct hit and was only suffered minor damaged by debris. When Bumblebee quickly arrived on scene, the cowardly Second in Command had fled as fast as he had come.

Annabelle had been unharmed, or so the trigger-happy mech had thought.

It clearly seemed that she had come out without physical trauma but psychological that was not the case. Ironhide knew that this could potentially scar the young teen for the rest of her life and there was nothing neither he nor the other Autobots could do but offer comfort when she needed it.

He released one of his arms from her and hooked on of his fingers under her chin. He then gently coaxed her to look at him and she did so with no resistance. When her eyes locked with his own, he swore he saw the remnants of a blush on her cheeks.

"There is no need ta be ashamed." Ironhide comforted. "Everyone has things they fear." He whispered as he let his thumb gently run over her cheek.

"Do you have a terrible fear?" She softly asked him, taking notice that her heartbeat was steadily beating faster then it had been when she had been scared. However, instead of a painful throb, it felt more like a warm and comforting pulse.

"Of course," Ironhide replied as he let his subconscious run his fingers through her soft hair. "Only fools have no fears."

"What do you fear the most, Hide?" Annabelle whispered, taking note that her face was slowly drawing closer to her Autobot guardian.

Ironhide was not surprise when he felt his face inch closer towards the young beauty that he loved with every ounce of his being. Only when their lips were mere inches apart and each other's hot breath was felt by the other, did Ironhide answer in a whisper. "Losing you,"

* * *

><p><em>Constructive criticism is appreciated.<br>Fan art is welcomed and loved._


End file.
